Fighting for More Than Friendship
by Thinkykaleidoscope
Summary: Samus crashes on a planet and is saved by the UNSC. Master Chief ends up having to watch over her while she helps them on missions. After Samus comes to a life threatening situation, Chief opens up. Cortana warns him not to get to close. Despite her warning he gets a little too close, and falls for Samus. She trys to keep a secret that Cortana already knows from Chief.


Chapter 1: A Kick to the Face

Disclaimer: I have no ownership over these games that belong to Bungie, Microsoft, and Nintendo

On a far off unnamed planet, something bright crashed in the distant. A huge dust cloud raised into the air once it made contact with the planet's sandy surface. Before the object met the planet's surface, it was caught on radar by the UNSC.

A small group of Spartans were sent to investigate. One of those Spartans was Master Chief, who wasn't too enthusiastic about investigating crashes. Usually when something crashed, it meant trouble.

It seemed to take forever to get to the crash site, and when they did, there was no one and nothing there besides a broken ship. It was bright orange, and had an almost neon green windshield. _Something bad always happens…always, _Master Chief thought as he looked at the abandoned ship.

"There's nothing but a heavily damaged ship out here. No one is in sight for miles. This was a waste of time, can we head back now?" Chief reported to Johnson.

"Did you check inside the ship?"Johnson responded in a bland voice.

"Yeah, but the only thing out here is this ship, rocks, and sand. No sign of life."

"Alright then, start heading back."

Right as Johnson cut off the transmission, a bright blast came from behind the rocks.

She fiddled with her arm cannon as the conversation went on between this Johnson and the other man. Samus peeked around the rock to see four men by her gunship. All of the men were clad in dark green armor. Each one had a pistol, a rifle, and a few grenades. Samus was unfamiliar with the armor and weapons, so she scanned each and every one of the men to see if she could collect any data to see in the were hostile or not. Not much information was gathered except for the fact that they were highly dangerous. Samus had only one thought running through her mind after gathering this information.

She shot at the largest one, who had just finished informing 'Johnson' that there was no one around. All the men were startled, and then readied their aim for whatever was about to attack. One began moving closer to the rock that Samus was hiding behind. She charged her arm cannon and held her breath for what neared.

Once the figure slowly peered around the opposite side of which Samus expected the man to appear from, he pushed the gun up to the back of her head.

She turned quickly and shot him in the chest. It didn't deal much damage; it just sent him flying back a few feet. He got right back up and began shooting at her, the other Spartans joining in the small shoot off. Once they began to run out of ammo, it became hand-to-hand combat. When it came to this, the Spartans couldn't do much but attempt to get a hit in here or there because Master Chief had it in control. Samus did enjoy hand-to-hand combat sometimes, so she used melee attacks in return.

Right as the mysterious fighter clad in orange and gold tried to deliver a kick, Master Chief's good reflexes kicked in and he grabbed the fighter's leg, making them fall down. As their head hit the ground, their helmet came off, revealing a refined woman's face. Chief was still holding her foot as the Spartans were in awe of the fact that one woman could fight so well against four Spartans.

"Who are you and what the hell do you think you're doing attacking us?" Chief asked, pointing his pistol at her face (which had barely any ammo in it). She growled instead of answering.

"Don't make me shoot you." He placed his finger on the trigger.

"Let go of me!" The fighter yelled breathing deeply.

"Once you tell us what you're doing here, and who you are."

"I'm a bounty hunter."

"Even more of a reason to shoot you." He began to press the trigger right as she began to speak.

"I crashed out here as I was passing by," she finally admitted, calming down. She still had a hint of anger in her voice, "Something shot me down though, and I crashed out here in this hellhole."

A few of the Spartans looked on the gunship for proof that she was shot down, and they found the proof. "We'll help you if tell us your name." Chief looked at her face, examining each feature carefully. He wasn't used to seeing such a fine face, for most everyone he knew was a man.

"My name… is Samus. Samus Aran." Chief put away his pistol and helped her get up off the ground.

"Where are you from?"

"Not here. Not anywhere near here." Samus dusted herself off and picked her helmet up off the ground.

"I'll tell Johnson what we found." One Spartan said heading back to the pelican.

Chief followed him back to the pelican, wondering what Johnson was going to think of them finding a girl rather than a fleet of the covenant or something more important (something that was important overall). Of course, Chief figured that she would be useless to them, but he had to bring her back with them. It was mandatory to bring back all life found from the site, but it wasn't something that would be interesting. He figured that the girl known as Samus would try to kill him again.

"What are we going to do about my ship?"Samus said after a while of just thinking about the current situation.

"We'll have it fixed later, when we come to the conclusion that you aren't hostile."Chief only thought that she was hostile. Nothing more, nothing less. He didn't like the idea of bringing a bounty hunter with them to HQ; he felt that she would try to pull something.

"Johnson was interested by our findings, Chief. He said we need to return as soon as possible."The Spartan from earlier hollered from inside the pelican.

"Did you mention that she is a bounty hunter?"

"No sir. I… forgot about that. But we can inform him of that once we return." The Spartan turned on the engine of the pelican to get it to warm up.

"Are we just going to leave my ship here until they come back to repair it?" Samus asked as the Spartans began to file onto the pelican.

"Pretty much."Chief sat down and began to wonder what shot her down. _What possibly could have been out here that we didn't catch? _He pondered this question as Samus hurried off to her gunship.

"I'll be right back!" Samus yelled to them as she ran off to retrieve something from her damaged ship. When she reached her gunship, she opened a compartment with a small, burned, dusty photo. A photo of when she was a mere child. She took a quick glance at it breathing more slowly as she put the photo away in a compartment in her Varia suit. She transferred the data from her ship into the data slots the suit had in case something had followed her. She rushed back hoping that they were still there and hadn't abandoned her on the arid, sandy, blazing planet. They hadn't left her, thank goodness.

After boarding the pelican and taking a seat, she began to doze off. Sleeping made the ride seem faster, and it made the Spartans aboard feel much safer since she couldn't kill in her sleep, hopefully. As she slept, one thing kept popping into her mind. Whatever shot her gunship down.

After about two and a half hours of flying, they finally reached the HQ of the UNSC. When Samus woke up, her hands were behind her back. _Dammit…_

They didn't trust her enough. _How could I have not noticed? _She thought as she stepped off the pelican, Chief taking her by the arm. After they had gotten off the pelican, they greeted Johnson. He was glad to see that they were all back in one piece, and glad that they had a hostage (for lack of better words) returning with them. Samus followed them, head down. She was embarrassed to have been captured so easily.

As they walked down the lengthy halls leading to Johnson's office, a question popped into Samus's mind. "What's your name?" She looked over to the man that one Spartan had called Chief.

"Who, me?" He glanced over at Samus, "Why do you care?"

"Yes, you. You know my name, I should know yours."

"Call me Master Chief. And I hardly care enough to remember your name."

Samus glared at him for that comment. Why he was so concerned about her not knowing his name, she didn't find out.

After what seemed to be forever (which was only fifteen minutes or so), they reached Johnson's office. It was a regular size room, with a high ceiling, a long desk, and various chairs in corners and in front of the desk. Samus was placed in a chair in front of the desk.

"Why did you tie her hands behind her back? That's not how you treat someone you rescue from a crash site." Johnson said folding his arms and leaning back in his chair.

"We thought she might kill us otherwise."Chief leaned against the door.

"Why would she kill you, and how would she kill five Spartans when she's just one woman."He began to chuckle.

"I'm not just a woman, why don't you ask them!"Samus snared giving Johnson a sharp, piercing look. She tried to think of a way to escape, and a few different ways popped into her head.

"She's a bounty hunter, and she can put up a fight."

"Really… how interesting. Well, while she's stuck here with us, she can help you on your next mission."

"Seriously? She won't try to kill me, yeah, sure. And what mission?"

"Who says I would kill you?"She looked over to him smirking. The rest of the conversation she drowned out with her own thoughts of what would happen now. She compared each scenario, and tried to guess which was more likely to happen. After a few more minutes of thinking, she heard them finally come to an agreement of some sort.

"Since you have nowhere to go, you can help us and stay here. Don't try to pull anything though, Master Chief will know. He will be babysitting you, so to speak." Johnson laughed at his own remark and then threw Master Chief a key.

"Come on, bounty hunter. I'll take you to your room." Chief grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the room.

Master Chief felt weird having fought a woman, then securing her hands behind her back, and now whining about having to take care of her. He had manners; he just wasn't going to waste them on someone who tried to kill him. He really didn't like having to watch her. In fact, he would rather be out destroying some covenant vessel single-handed and almost dying than watch her. As they approached the room in which she would stay, she finally said something. "I have a name. Why don't you try using it?"

"You can stop acting like a bitch. It won't get you anywhere."Chief retorted as he opened the door. He untied her hands, and was about to leave the room when she asked him a question.

"If it's not too much to ask, can I have something to eat?"

"Yeah, fine. I'll be back in a few minutes. Don't you try to do anything, or I'll kill you."

"I won't. Why don't you loosen up? I'm not going to do anything just because I'm a bounty hunter."

"Whatever."

Master Chief sighed as he stepped outside of the room. This was lame. He should of and could of been doing more important things than getting food and babysitting. He grabbed some food from the mess hall. It was already getting dark outside by the time it was seven o'clock. When he returned, Samus was out of her Varia suit and in Zero suit. That was something Chief wasn't expecting to see. He examined the tall, thin figure before giving her the tray.

"Oh, thanks! I'm starving to death."She took the tray quickly and placed it on a small table placed in the corner if the room.

"No problem." Chief most definitely didn't mean 'no problem' when he said it.

"I'm sorry…" Samus said in a low, quiet voice, "Will you stay?"

Chief became extremely confused from her gesture of forgiveness. "Why?"

"I need someone to explain what's going on, where am I, and it has just been a while… since I've had someone to talk to. Will you explain what's going to happen?"

"I guess. But it's getting late, so this will be short."

"If seven thirty is late, than make it fast."

"Fine, I'll explain everything if you want. But first, you have to answer one thing."

"Shoot."

"What were you doing there, you're not from anywhere around here? We did a background check, and you are a long ways from home."

"Even if I was standing on K-2L itself, I would still be a long ways from home. But I'll get to the point. I got some kind of emergency signal (baby's cry) saying it was from here. I came to see what it was, and like I said earlier, I was shot down before reaching the planet in which the signal came from."

"What do you mean you would be a long ways from home even if you were on K-2L, whatever that is?"

"I… I don't want to talk about it." Samus reached for the picture she had taken from her gunship before leaving it. She looked at it, and closed her eyes sighing.

"Do you want me to explain now?"

"Yeah… you can." She sighed as she began to listen.

She placed the photo down on the small nightstand and began listening to every word Chief said. He explained just about everything to her, except one thing that would belong in the whole story of where and why and who. He didn't tell her anything about himself. It was ten o'clock by the time he went to his own room, which was across the hall. He wondered what she was looking at when he began to explain everything. He thought it was a photo (which it was), but he couldn't be sure because she placed whatever she was looking at, face down. He saw words on it, which made him curious to what it said. He thought about that for a long time, and then began to wonder what her story was. Chief came to the conclusion of asking her in the morning.

_I wonder what his story is. I wonder what he looks like. _

She had to know what he looked like if she wanted to get the job from the Galactic Federation finished. Samus's final thoughts for the night were about the whole mess she was in and who he was. She was curious on what made him to be so grouchy and unenthusiastic about life. Her thoughts quickly drifted away as she fell asleep.

When the morning came, she was awakened by the sunlight that began pouring into the room through the small window. Her head rose, and she stared at the room as the sun flooded it. She got up, and then remembered parts of the previous day. She was sweating, so she took a shower. The water was cold, which made her shiver at first. She took a quick shower, and then dried off with a large white towel. It had been a few days since she had showered, so it was refreshing. She changed back into Zero suit, then Samus tried to make sense of what had happened. She had barely enough time to remember who was part of yesterday since there were so many different people, and Samus had to know exactly who was who if she wanted to get anywhere.

Suddenly the door swung open making Samus jump out of her skin. It was Chief.

"Good morning," Master Chief groaned while flipping something in the air. "I forgot to give you the key last night. Here you go." He tossed it, and it landed perfectly in Samus's lap.

"You startled me. Good morning to you too."

"Since I have to babysit you I was wondering if you wanted to go get breakfast."

"Breakfast sounds nice."

The two went down to the mess hall together. It was a far ways away, so Samus tried to start a conversation.

"So…" Samus said twiddling her thumbs, "What's your story? You told me everything, about here and who takes place in this large galaxy, but you didn't tell me anything about yourself."

"You didn't want to talk about that home thing you said yesterday, so I didn't have to tell you about me."

"I… I guess I could tell you my story if you told me about yourself. You know, since we both seem to care about each other's history." She hesitated. She never liked telling people her story. When she did, she could see everything happening as she said each word. It terrorized her to even mention it.

"And what if I don't care?"

She handed him the small, old photo from her childhood.

As Master Chief looked at the picture, he stopped in his tracks. He was speechless. His pale face became even more pale (if you could see his face).

"Is everything alright Chief?"She asked once she noticed that he had stopped walking.

"I'm… fine."

"This is me with my parents when I was a mere child before…"

"Before what?" Chief sat down at a table and began to listen as Samus explained everything.

"Before K-2L, my home planet, was invaded by Space Pirates. After the Space Pirates raided K-2L, there was nothing left but rubble and burned carcasses for the most part. I survived along with the Chozo that had been stopping by that day for some afloraltite (a stone that can be used as fuel, mined on K-2L). Old Bird, one of the Chozo, had found me wandering around and decided to take me under his wing. I then went to live on Zebes with the Chozo, which was a planet near K-2L. The planet was not meant for humans though, so they infused my blood with theirs. Then on my fourteenth birthday, I was given a Power Suit, which I had to learn how to use. I trained with the Chozo for only a year, and then I left Zebes. Not too long after, I joined the Galactic Federation. The GF was predominately made up of men, some of which I befriended, some of which I never paid attention to. Out of those friends, there was Anthony Higgs, who was like a brother. Adam Malkovich, he was my commander, but he was also like a father in a way. I left the GF and went on to become a bounty hunter. The Space Pirates attacked Zebes and overthrew it. Luckily, I was able to blow up Zebes leaving them for dead. But the Chozo were deceased because of those fuckers, leaving me alone besides Anthony, who was always off somewhere."

"Oh…"Chief finally said, patting Samus on the shoulder, "Sorry kid."

"What?"

"You pretty much have the worst history I've heard so far. We have to go retrieve your gunship off that hell hole of a planet now."

"What about you? Aren't you going to tell me why you hate everybody and why you are such a grouch?"

"Nope. There's no time. Come on, let's go."

"Really, you're going to leave me in the dark about your past, but I had to explain mine? Men, such-."

"Are you coming or not? I would be more than happy to leave without you."

"Fine," Samus stood up and ran over to Chief, who was already across the mess hall.

"What about Adam? You only said Anthony implying-."

"He's dead. As dead as everyone else I've ever known or cared about."

"What has you in such a bad mood?"

"The fact that you're too much of prick to even tell me your name, or take off that helmet! What's your problem anyways, identity issues? Seriously, who wears a helmet all the time?"

"I don't wear it all the time! You've only been here for less than a day and you think you know it all! You act just like every other woman I've ever met!"

"Almost everyone here is male, so you can only have met a few women in your life time. And if you are saying that every women has acted like that, then that means that you would be talking about your mother as well as any other female relatives of yours. Pretty much you're insulting your family."

"Don't talk about my family."

"Why, do you not like it?"

"Because I don't have any family to talk about!" Chief ran off in a ball of fury, leaving Samus alone and confused.

"You know she was messing with your head, John." Cortana said. "I think she is up to something. Maybe something, more than just wanting to know exactly who you are and what you look like. I don't like her, she is a good for nothing bounty hunter, and I suggest you keep your distance."


End file.
